Directors Spotlight Series

The Concept of Rigorous Career Pathways

by CRTC Director Steve Rothenberg

I spent the week before Thanksgiving in New Orleans attending, as well as presenting at,  the National Career and Technical Education Conference presented by ACTE. While there, I found that two best practices seemed to be disproportionately represented:  (1) project-based learning (which I’ve previously written about) and (2) rigorous educational career pathways.

Pathways, when they are most impressive, reflect the work of a big tent - high schools, community colleges, universities and industry - working together around the table to create robust, clearly documented, opportunities for students.   In essence, a pathway is a logical series of courses that when completed, produce capable, highly-skilled, employable, college graduates.  The model involves students taking college dual-enrollment courses in high school, then moving on to a post-secondary institution with credits in hand and a clear path to graduation and career readiness.  There are a wide range of pathway opportunities, including careers in healthcare, the trades, engineering, auto tech, and more.

As students work their way through the pathway, they also earn nationally recognized industry certificates and engage in work-based opportunities in the form of job shadows, internships, and co-ops.  The pathway model is extremely efficient, saving families a great deal of money.

The best pathways establish a seamless progression where there is no duplication.  They recognize academic, technical, and employability skills, and offer them in an extremely coordinated manner.  Some of the better pathways models (Utah, Ohio) are founded on large-scale statewide coordination, which, sadly, is not an area of strength in our Live Free or Die local control state.
This model is a major rethink for many educators; its structured nature is not how they personally experienced post-secondary education.  The CRTC embraces this model as evidenced by our commitment to dual enrollment and industry certificate opportunities.  We also have a strong relationship with the NH Community College System and SNHU for alignment.